Unemployment Made Me Sequestrated

When I was working full time, had a good property and went on 2 holiday’s a year it never once occurred I could be declared sequestrated one day.

So it came as a shock when the company i worked for started making people redundant and I was told they would no longer require my services.

I had a mortgage to pay, 2 children to feed and my husband didn’t make enough to support us or meet our credit commitments each month.

Although i received a £5000 redundancy package this wasn’t enough to pay everything until i got back into work and debts started to build up. I was told by the job centre I didn’t even qualify for job seekers allowance because my husband earned too much.

After 6 months of not having a single job interview i began to worry about the mortgage arrears and default charges which were building up.

My experience and skills were in the financial services industry which wasn’t hiring the same number of people due to the financial collapse.

I was forced to take a job working as a receptionist just to have some additional income until i could get a job in the industry I previously worked.

A whole year passed and I was back unemployed, mortgage arrears were mounting, legal action was being threatened and we came to the end of the road.

To make matters worse the debt had caused such a rift between me and my husband we split up and i was left with the cost of the house.

How I Entered Sequestration

I had come to the realisation I was never going to get back to earning the same money again and the debts needed to be dealt with.

I went to speak with our financial adviser who explained I needed a specialised debt adviser and gave us a number of a charity to call.

The debt advice charity were very helpful and understanding it made us feel like I weren’t alone with our financial problems any more.

They explained because I wasn’t working and the debts were around £100,000 in total I should declare myself sequestrated, although it meant losing the property. I also spoke to my husband about being him being made sequestrated however he entered a protected trust deed because he was earning enough money.

The equity in the house was £10,000 but I was always going to be forced into selling it or hand it back because the monthly payments were too much.

I entered the sequestration and because i went back into employment, lived somewhere more affordable I made a small contribution to the debt.

I am now debt free and never have managed to get back into the financial service industry although I do still hold out hope.